Harry Potter -- The Lost Tales of Beedle the Bard: A Fool and His Life
by Tuzilla
Summary: This is story #5 from a recently discovered cache of stories by Beedle the Bard. A pair of twins venture into a cave and discover a sleeping dragon.


"Finish up your supper if you want a story before bedtime, kids," said Ginny.

"Yes, finish your food and clean up the table," said Harry. "I think you will like this one, especially you, James."

"Does it have a dragon?" asked James, now curious from the special mention.

"You will have to wait to find out," replied Harry. The sooner dinner is cleaned up, the sooner you will find out."

A few minutes later everyone was gathered in the front room for the story. Ginny open the book and said, "This story is called ' ** _A Fool and His Life'_**."

 _"_ _There was once a village named Godwill._ It rested at the base of a tall mountain in northern England. It was a simple village of simple means, but it had a couple of secrets. The first secret was the people of the village were all witches and wizards. The second was, at least according to the many stories, was the idea that the mountain was the home of a dragon and its treasure.

Godwill was originally built by muggle farmers and hunters. It was attacked several hundred years ago by a dragon supposedly living in the mountain. The dragon ruined most of the village, taking the sparse bits of gold and other valuables of the villagers before disappearing into the mountain. It had not been seen or heard from since, but its legend endured.

The muggles who had built the village deserted it after the attack. Members of the wizarding community found it and took over the site, using protective enchantments to leave it looking ruined to all who passed it by.

Willum and Persell Mossmen were a pair of teenage twins living in Godwill. Like most boys of their age, they were prone to roaming the woodlands and getting into occasional mischief. Most of their activities were purely innocent.

One day in September, the pair ventured further into the woods and up the side of the mountain than was commonly done. It was a beautiful day and the cooler temperature invited adventuring.

As they passed out of a particularly dense patch of forest, they found an opening in the side of the mountain. It was certainly a cave. They had never heard tell of any caves on the mountain. It was natural to assume it was undiscovered and ripe for exploring.

"Let's go in and have a look around," said Willum, the more inquisitive, adventurous twin. He was always the leader of the pair.

"I don't know," replied Persell, always the more cautious of the pair. "It could be dangerous." His more pragmatic nature kept them out of a lot of trouble, even though they got into more than their fair share.

"C'mon, Perse," said Willum in a condescending voice. "Don't be a coward. We'll just have a little look."

Persell reluctantly gave in to his brother and the two of them approached the entrance. It was pretty large. The air exiting it was cool and had a strange.

"Lumos," said Willum as he stepped into the darkness. Persell also lit up his wand.

Willum led the way into the cave. It was dry for the most part. It was happily without creepy crawly creatures. Nothing out of the unusual presented itself.

"Have you seen enough, yet?" said Persell after a few minutes. "There's nothing interesting in here."

"Okay," replied Willum. "We'll go just a little further. You might be right."

They proceeded on for a few minutes. Willum was just about ready to give in to Persell and head back when the cave opened up into a large room. The floor of the cave glittered in the light from their wands.

"What is this?" asked Willum with wonder in his voice. "It looks like gold and jewels."

"I don't know," said Persell. "It can't be gold and jewels. That would be crazy."

Willum walked into the room, his shoes crunching on the glittering floor covering. Then he saw a huge silhouette in the center of the room.

"What is that?" he said to Persell in a suddenly hushed tone. Do you see it? I think I can hear it breathing.

"Maybe it is the dragon from the legends," said Persell in a worried tone. "Maybe those stories are true."

"Yes," whispered Willum. "It's the dragon and…and this is his treasure. I'm taking some."

"I think that's a bad idea," said Persell as he began edging back out of the room.

"He's sound asleep," replied Willum, starting to sound bolder. "There's so much here. He will never miss the small amount I can care if he ever wakes up."

"No, I don't like it," said Persell as he continued to make his way out of the room. "We need to go."

"Nonsense," said Willum as he cast an incendio charm at the dragon. The fire burned for a moment and went out. The dragon never moved. "See. He is completely asleep."

By now, Persell was back into the corridor leading out of the cave. He was holding a single jewel he had picked up out of curiosity. Willum cast a few more charms. The most he got from any of them was a couple twitches from the sleeping dragon as he continued stuffing treasure into his pockets.

"Rictusempra," said Willum with a wave of his wand. He was starting to enjoy his brash behavior. The dragon suddenly convulsed and spasmed. Persell ducked back into the corridor as the dragon blew a couple puffs of smoke out of its nose before settling back down and returning to its slumber.

"I think he liked that," said Willum in a loud whisper.

"Stop it," said Persell. "Let's go."

"Okay. Okay," said Willum as he cast one more Rictusempra spell.

The dragon convulsed and then stood up wide awake. He was big, green and looked truly enormous in the dimly lit room.

"A Thief!" roared the dragon. "You dare to enter my sanctum and disturb my sleep and steal from my treasure."

Willum was backing up, finally realizing the errors of his impetuous behavior. Persell had doused his light and was laying in the dark corridor. There was a brilliant flash of fiery light and Willum disappear before Persell's eyes.

There were several small fires left burning for pieces of flammable treasure. The dragon looked around for a few moments. Persell cowered against the wall, barely breathing.

The dragon finally laid down and returned to his slumber. Once his breathing seemed calm and regular, Persell quietly crawled as far as he could in the dying firelight before relighting his wand.

Persell was distraught at the loss of his twin brother. He stumbled, crying, through the forest and back into the village. Several villagers ran to see what the matter was.

Persell's parents arrived and he began to relate the story of finding the cave amidst his sobs and tears to the villagers. He told them how they had found the cave and Willum convinced him to go into it. He showed them the single jewel he had taken and talked about finding the room with the treasure and discovering the sleeping dragon. He told them how Willum had stuffed his pockets with treasure before starting to cast spells at the dragon.

"I tried to stop him and get him to leave," wept Persell. "But he wouldn't listen. He thought playing with a sleeping dragon was funny. He just wouldn't listen."

He told them how Willum's foolishness finally went too far and how he awakened the sleeping dragon with a tickling charm and was incinerated a moment later on the spot.

The villagers tried to get Persell to take them up the mountain and show them the cave, but he refused. No one ever found it again. As far as anyone knows, the treasure still rests with the sleeping, ticklish dragon."


End file.
